I'm a Farmer and I have Coronavirus...The animals must be cared for

bridge [Music] hey there folks this is josh otherwise known as stony ridge farmer here on youtube i'm up here in the hay yard with the cows and the dogs are up here hanging out on a hay bale all warm and cozy and i have covid i have covered 19. i went yesterday and got tested a lot of folks in my general vicinity uh have come down with covid19 and in the general town that i live in here in north carolina the simple fact is that life goes on despite covid despite what we might think and i've got to feed my animals i have to take care of my animals i have to take care of my dogs and my cats and my chickens and all the animals here on the farm so today we're going to go out and we're just going to show you a day of feeding the cows it's a little muddy it's that time of year typically we wouldn't have our cows in as muddy a pasture but i can't move them right now because the cold weather has dictated that at night our water tanks freeze so i have to thaw those out so in the morning i've gotta thaw out the water tanks and make sure that the cows have plenty of food and water and that's it so typically we'll roll out at least one bale of hay to our cows per day sometimes two bales per day alternating every other day we're out here in the hay yard right now and it's early january it's it's a beautiful beautiful day but uh i do have coven and it's the show must go on uh the farm must continue we've got to keep our animals fed if i was too sick to get out here and do this i wouldn't be doing it i want to put out some of the fears that that a lot of you folks have about covid it hits people in different ways if you have health problems it hits you in different ways if you don't have health problems it might not hit you as bad but it's a real deal it's a it's a real thing and i'm feeling a little bit under the weather but i've got to take care of my animals and i've got to take care of my [Music] what you're seeing here is called a bale unroller all we do is basically hook up to a bale take it out and unroll it out on the land to the cattle these bales are fairly light only about 600 pounds five to six hundred [Music] so each hay bale has to be meticulously managed in other words we cannot allow the cows to eat the string off the hay bales so every day this is a daily process and it doesn't require much energy i guess when it comes down to it just a little bit of thought every day we go through and cut the strings on the bales make sure we don't accidentally have a cow eat a haystring because that could mess up a cow's digestive system gotta care for the land as well as our livestock and ourselves the show must go on here on the farm little things matter having combination locks on your gate so your cows don't get out [Applause] [Music] i believe that farming is a relationship with our livestock as well as a relationship with the land and we're doing what's called regenerative agriculture here on the farm where we take these old hay bales and we roll them out on the land it feeds the cows and it also regenerates the land so there's a seed bank in each hay bale when we unroll it out on the land the cows will eat the hay that's accessible to them and then they'll trample those seeds right back into the ground thus building the land year after year day after day [Music] not only is farming hard work but social media really takes a lot out of you at the end of the day even after the work is done there's still work to do every night in front of the computer [Music] okay we got one more bale all secure on the bailin roller right there guys thanks a lot for joining me here today on the stoney ridge farm i just thought i'd let you know i'm doing okay everything's all right i'm a little bit weak i'm a little bit tired from what's going on here with the covid but we've got to feed our animals we've got to take care of our animals and that's what's going on today here on the stoney ridge so guys thanks a lot for joining me please jump in found that like button i hope this gave you a little bit of an enlightenment as to what goes on here on the farm you've got to pull up your big girl socks and get busy man that's all it is to it so thanks a lot guys we'll see you next time on the stoney ridge i hope you enjoyed seeing the cows they're doing awesome see you next time